California Solar Solutions Showcased at Applied Materials

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showcased the 2 megawatt solar power system at the Applied Materials (News - Alert) campus in Sunnyvale, California, a large corporate solar power installations in the United States.

 

“Applied Materials is a real California solar success story and they are demonstrating the potential of turning parking lots throughout the state into power plants at a time when we need innovative solutions to the growing energy crisis,” stated Governor

Schwarzenegger. “The panels in the system were manufactured by a California company on equipment provided by Applied Materials, another California company, and they take advantage of one of our state’s most famous and abundant resources, the California sun.”

 

Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials, added “California has the best solar program in the United States thanks to Governor Schwarzenegger’s vision.” “He has shown great leadership for the adoption of solar power in California through his Million Solar Roofs Plan and his support of the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), but we still have a long way to go as a state and as a country.”

 

The Applied Materials solar system in Sunnyvale uses about 7,000 wafer-based solar panels, by SunPower Corporation using Applied’s Baccini Cell Systems. It can generate approximately 2 megawatts of power every year. The parking lot-mounted system tracks the sun to increase the efficiency of the panels and also stand as shade for hundreds of cars.

 

The solar power can prevent more than 2,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

 

“This is the new face of solar power, parking lots becoming power plants and solar panels incorporated into the middle of our urban landscape,” added Splinter. “Solar is a tremendous economic development opportunity for our state and our country and with the support of leaders like the Governor we have the opportunity to make solar a truly meaningful part of our energy supply.”

 

SunFab thin film solar panel is commercially-available solar panel and Applied demonstrated how a single Applied SunFab thin film production line can produce enough panels for an installation the size of Applied’s Sunnyvale system in a time span of about eight days.

 

Applied Materials Inc. is a provider of Nanomanufacturing Technology solutions like of innovative equipment, service and software products for semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass.